• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.593-610
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• 2016

In this study, an innovative and smart glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) hybrid bar was developed for stronger durability of concrete structures. As comparing with the conventional GFRP bar, the smart GFRP Hybrid bar can promise to enhance the modulus of elasticity so that it makes the cracking reduced than the case when the conventional GFRP bar is used. Besides, the GFRP Hybrid bar can effectively resist the corrosion of conventional steel bar by the GFRP outer surface on the steel bar. In order to verify the bond performance of the GFRP hybrid bar for structural reinforcement, uniaxial pull-out test was conducted. The variables were the bar diameter and the number of strands and pitch of the fiber ribs. Tensile tests showed a excellent increase in the modulus of elasticity, 152.1 GPa, as compared to that of the pure GFRP bar (50 GPa). The stress-strain curve was bi-linear, so that the ductile performance could be obtained. For the bond test, the entire GFRP hybrid bar test specimens failed in concrete splitting due to higher shear strength resulting in concrete crushing as a function of bar deformation. Investigation revealed that an increase in the number of strands of fiber ribs enhanced the bond strength, and the pitch guaranteed the bond strength of 19.1 mm diameter hybrid bar with 15.9 mm diameter of core section of deformed steel the ACI 440 1R-15 equation is regarded as more suitable for predicting the bond strength of GFRP hybrid bars, whereas the CSA S806-12 prediction is considered too conservative and is largely influenced by the bar diameter. For further study, various geometrical and material properties such as concrete cover, cross-sectional ratio, and surface treatment should be considered.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.257-273
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• 2012

Based on the heterogeneous characterization of concrete at mesoscopic level, Realistic Failure Process Analysis ($RFPA^{3D}$) code is used to simulate the failure process of concrete-filled tubular (CFT) stub columns. The results obtained from the numerical simulations are firstly verified against the existing experimental results. An extensive parametric study is conducted to investigate the effects of different concrete strength on the behaviour and load-bearing capacity of the CFT stub columns. The strength of concrete considered in this study ranges from 30 to 110 MPa. Both the load-bearing capacity and load-displacement curves of CFT columns are evaluated. In particular, the crack propagation during the deformation and failure processes of the columns is predicted and the associated mechanisms related to the increased load-bearing capacity of the columns are clarified. The numerical results indicate that there are two mechanisms controlling the failure of the CFT columns. For the CFT columns with the lower concrete strength, they damage when the steel tube yields at first. By contrast, for the columns with high concrete strength it is the damage of concrete that controls the overall loading capacity of the CFT columns. The simulation results also demonstrate that $RFPA^{3D}$ is not only a useful and effective tool to simulate the concrete-filled steel tubular columns, but also a valuable reference for the practice of engineering design.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.227-237
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• 2018

Today, the modeling of concrete as a material within finite element simulations is predominantly done through nonlinear material models of concrete. In current sophisticated computational systems, there are a number of complex concrete material models which are based on theory of plasticity, damage mechanics, linear or nonlinear fracture mechanics or combinations of those theories. These models often include very complex constitutive relations which are suitable for the modeling of practically any continuum mechanics tasks. However, the usability of these models is very often limited by their parameters, whose values must be defined for the proper realization of appropriate constitutive relations. Determination of the material parameter values is very complicated in most material models. This is mainly due to the non-physical nature of most parameters, and also the large number of them that are frequently involved. In such cases, the designer cannot make practical use of the models without having to employ the complex inverse parameter identification process. In continuum mechanics, however, there are also constitutive relations that require the definition of a relatively small number of parameters which are predominantly of a physical nature and which describe the behavior of concrete very well within a particular task. This paper presents an example of such constitutive relations which have the potential for implementation and application in finite element systems. Specifically, constitutive relations for modeling the plane stress state of concrete are presented and subsequently tested and evaluated in this paper. The relations are based on the incremental theory of elastic strain-hardening plasticity in which a non-associated flow rule is used. The calculation result for the case of concrete under uniaxial compression is compared with the experimental data for the purpose of the validation of the constitutive relations used.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.633-646
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• 2017

The compressive behavior of special-shaped concrete filled tube (CFT) mega column coupled with multiple cavities is studied by testing six columns subjected to cyclically uniaxial compressive load. The six columns include three pentagonal specimens and three hexagonal specimens. The influence of cavity construction, arrangement of reinforcement, concrete strength on failure feature, bearing capacity, stiffness, and residual deformation is examined. Experimental results show that cavity construction and reinforcements make it possible to form a combined confinement effect to in-filled concrete, and the two groups of special-shaped CFT columns show good elastic-plastic compressive behavior. As there is no axial bearing capacity calculation method currently available in any Code of practice for special-shaped CFT columns, values predicted by normal CFT column formulas in GB50936, CECS254, ACI-318, EC4, AISCI-LRFD, CECS159, and AIJ are compared with tested values. The calculated values are lower than the tested values for most columns, thus the predicted bearing capacity is safe. A reasonable calculation method by dividing concrete into active and inactive confined regions is proposed. And high accuracy shows in estimating special-shaped CFT columns either coupled with multiple cavities or not. In addition, a finite element method (FEM) analysis is conducted and the simulated results match the test well.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.485-496
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• 2017

The behavior of 8 steel reinforced high-strength concrete (SRHSC) columns, which comprised of four identical columns with cross-shaped steel and other four identical columns with square steel tube, was investigated experimentally under cyclic uniaxial and biaxial loading independently. The influence of steel configuration and loading path on the global behavior of SRHSC columns in terms of failure process, hysteretic characteristics, stiffness degradation and ductility were investigated and discussed, as well as stress level of the longitudinal and transverse reinforcing bars and steel. The research results indicate that with a same steel ratio deformation capacity of steel reinforced concrete columns with a square steel tube is better than the one with a cross-shaped steel. Loading path affects hysteretic characteristics of the specimens significantly. Under asymmetrical loading path, hysteretic characteristics of the specimens are also asymmetry. Compared with specimens under unidirectional loading, specimens subjected to bidirectional loading have poor carrying capacity, fast stiffness degradation, small yielding displacement, poor ductility and small ultimate failure drift. It also demonstrates that loading paths affect the deformation capacity or deformation performance significantly. Longitudinal reinforcement yielding occurs before the peak load is attained, while steel yielding occurs at the peak load. During later displacement loading, strain of longitudinal and transverse reinforcing bars and steel of specimens under biaxial loading increased faster than those of specimens subjected to unidirectional loading. Therefore, the bidirectional loading path has great influence on the seismic performance such as carrying capacity and deformation performance, which should be paid more attentions in structure design.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.571-592
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• 2010

An energy-based fatigue life prediction framework was previously developed by the authors for prediction of axial, bending and shear fatigue life at various stress ratios. The framework for the prediction of fatigue life via energy analysis was based on a new constitutive law, which states the following: the amount of energy required to fracture a material is constant. In the first part of this study, energy expressions that construct the constitutive law are equated in the form of total strain energy and the distortion energy dissipated in a fatigue cycle. The resulting equation is further evaluated to acquire the equivalent stress per cycle using energy based methodologies. The equivalent stress expressions are developed both for biaxial and multiaxial fatigue loads and are used to predict the number of cycles to failure based on previously developed prediction criterion. The equivalent stress expressions developed in this study are further used in a new finite element procedure to predict the fatigue life for two and three dimensional structures. In the second part of this study, a new Quadrilateral fatigue finite element is developed through integration of constitutive law into minimum potential energy formulation. This new QUAD-4 element is capable of simulating biaxial fatigue problems. The final output of this finite element analysis both using equivalent stress approach and using the new QUAD-4 fatigue element, is in the form of number of cycles to failure for each element on a scale in ascending or descending order. Therefore, the new finite element framework can provide the number of cycles to failure at each location in gas turbine engine structural components. In order to obtain experimental data for comparison, an Al6061-T6 plate is tested using a previously developed vibration based testing framework. The finite element analysis is performed for Al6061-T6 aluminum and the results are compared with experimental results.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.105-116
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• 2017

This paper presents the dynamic stability study of laminated composite plates with different force combinations and aspect ratios. Optimum non-diverging stacking is obtained for certain loading combination and aspect ratio. In addition, the stability force is maximized for a definite operating frequency. A dynamic version of the principle of virtual work for laminated composites is used to obtain force-frequency relation. Since dynamic stiffness governs the divergence or flutter, an efficient optimization method is necessary for the response functional and the relevant constraints. In this way, a model based on the ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is proposed to search for the proper stacking. The ACO algorithm is used since it treats with large number of dynamic stability parameters. Governing equations are formulated using classic laminate theory (CLT) and von-Karman plate technique. Load-frequency relations are explicitly obtained for fundamental and secondary flutter modes of simply supported composite plate with arbitrary aspect ratio, stacking and boundary load, which are used in optimization process. Obtained results are compared with the finite element method results for validity and accuracy convince. Results revealed that the optimum stacking with stable dynamic response and maximum critical load is in angle-ply mode with almost near-unidirectional fiber orientations for fundamental flutter mode. In addition, short plates behave better than long plates in combined axial-shear load case regarding stable oscillation. The interaction of uniaxial and shear forces intensifies the instability in long plates than short ones which needs low-angle layup orientations to provide required dynamic stiffness. However, a combination of angle-ply and cross-ply stacking with a near-square aspect ratio is appropriate for the composite plate regarding secondary flutter mode.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.107-113
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• 2018

Coal samples with different joints morphology were subjected to uniaxial compression experiments, cracks evolution was recorded by Nikon D5300 and acoustic emission (AE) energy signals were collected by AEwin Test for Express-8.0. During loading process, coal samples deformed elastically with no obvious cracks changes, then they expanded gradually along the trace of the original cracks, accompanied by the formation of secondary cracks, and eventually produced a large-scale fracture. It was more interesting that the failure mode of samples were all shear shape, whatever the original cracks morphology was. With cracks and damage evolution, AE energy radiated regularly. At the early loading stage, micro damage and small scale fracture events only induced a few AE events with less energy, while large scale fracture leaded to a number of AE events with more energy at the later stage. Based on the multifractal theory, the multifractal spectrum could explain AE energy signals frequency responses and the causes of AE events with load. Multifractal spectrum width (${\Delta}{\alpha}$), could reflect the differences between the large and small AE energy signals. And another parameter (${\Delta}f$) could reflect the relationship between the frequency of the least and greatest signals in the AE energy time series. This research is helpful for us to understand cracks evolution and AE energy signals causes.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.523-538
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• 2016

Besides their spiritual significance, minarets are humanity's cultural heritage to the future generations due to their historical and architectural attraction. Currently, many historical masonry minarets are damaged and destroyed due to several reasons such as earthquakes and wind. Therefore, safety of these religiously significant buildings needs to be thoroughly investigated. The utmost care must be taken into account while investigating these structures. Our study investigated earthquake behavior of historical masonry minaret of Haci Mahmut Mosque. Destructive and non-destructive tests were carried out to determine earthquake safety of this structure. Brick-stone masonry material properties of structure were determined by accomplishing ultrasonic wave velocity, Schmidt Hammer, uniaxial compression (UAC) and indirect tension (Brazilian) tests. Determined material properties were used in the finite element analysis of the structure. To validate the numerical analysis, Operational Modal Analysis was applied to the structure and dynamic characteristics of the structure were determined. To this end, accelerometers were placed on the structure and vibrations due to environmental effects were followed. Finite element model of the minaret was updated using dynamic characteristics of the structure and the realistic numerical model of the structure was obtained. This numerical model was solved by using earthquake records of Turkey with time history analysis (THA) and the realistic earthquake behavior of the structure was introduced.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.117-126
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• 2019

When designing reinforced concrete (RC) members, the rebar is assumed to resist all tensile forces, but the resistance of the concrete in the tension area is neglected. However, concrete can also resist tensile forces and increase the tensile stiffness of RC members, which is called the tension stiffening effect (TSE). Therefore, this study assessed the TSE, particularly after yielding of the steel bars and the effects of the steel ratio on the TSE. For this purpose, RC member specimens with steel ratios of 2.87%, 0.99%, and 0.59% were fabricated for uniaxial tensile tests. A vision-based non-contact measurement system was used to measure the behavior of the specimens. The cracks on the specimen at the stabilized cracking stage and the fracture stage were measured with the image analysis method. The results show that the number of cracks increases as the steel ratio increases. The reductions of the limit state and fracture strains were dependent on the ratio of the rebar. As the steel ratio decreased, the strain after yielding of the RC members significantly decreased. Therefore, the overall ductility of the RC member is reduced with decreasing steel ratio. The yielding plateau and ultimate load of the RC members obtained from the proposed equations showed very good agreement with those of the experiments. Finally, the image analysis method was possible to allow flexibility in expand the measurement points and targets to determine the strains and crack widths of the specimens.